Alibre Design Back At $99

Alibre recently rebranded its entry level MCAD product. Alibre Design Standard is now Alibre Design Personal Edition and is priced at $99. Also you no longer need to purchase maintenance. So the final price of a license is $99 only.

Easily the largest criticism of Alibre Design is that it cannot do much. This was further compounded by noises coming from Alibre itself, such as the infamous “get 80% of the functionality for 20% of the price“. Personally, I am glad that the company has moved away from that line of messaging. Instead now they are saying that they give 80% of the people 100% of what they need, which makes far more sense.

Alibre has reworked their web site with the aim of conveying that very message. The new products landing page gives a very good idea about their product line. The web page has two sections – “Business Class Software” and “Home & Hobby Software“. The business side takes you to Alibre Design Professional and Expert and the hobby side takes you to Alibre Design Personal Edition. Maybe now there will be lesser people making a fuss about what a $99 hobbyist software can and cannot do.

Alibre Design Personal Edition is the same as the old Alibre Design Standard with a couple of differences. You cannot create section/partial/detail views in drawings and 3D export is restricted to STL only. The idea is that hobbyists or individuals who are running a CNC machine for personal projects only really need STL, and probably do not need partial/section/detail. So, if you need those, you are probably a business and need to buy Professional or Expert.